Taiwan Trip: Arrival in Taiwan

Finally .... time for another travel post! heehee, extremely back-dated but thought I'll document it down as it's the 1st family trip that we went together with Leecher's parents & Roger. Actually, I totally forgotten that I haven blog about this trip, till Daddy-in-law mentioned about it the other day. So, I went home, looked through my folders and realised that I have yet to sort out the pictures into their respective folders (cuz there were pictures from 2 different cameras) *guilty face*

As it was my in-laws 1st trip out, I had a hard time racking my brains as to where and what they wanted to do/see/eat. Jun was extremely helpful and passed me her itinerary for TW (thanks dear!) for my planning :) Armed with passport, luggage & money, we made our way to the airport!

We arranged to meet @ the check-in counter, since I'm taking the train while Leecher's family took the bus. They arrived earlier than me, but they couldn't check in, for I booked the tickets under my credit card!

So, they went to la kopi first while waiting for me.

Their luggage spread out accordingly to sizes, biggest for the parents, bigger for Roger and big for Leecher.

Queuing up to check in. Gosh, no more fringes for me!

with parents-in-law, who were very excited at their first time onboard the plane.

I didn't have enough time for breakfast, so I went to ta-bao a curry pie instead of waiting for inflight meals.

Up up and away!

We took Cathay Pacific and it was a 4hr ride to HK for the transit to TW. Leecher entertained himself with movies while I was off to lala-land after breakfast.

We arrived in HK - the weather was bright and sunny! Cathay's service was pretty good and food was decent as well.

Looking for the transit gate at the directory - transit is always kinda confusing!


Busy snapping around as we walked towards the departure gate for our outbound flight to Taiwan.

Snacks served onboard. The bun was very chewy & fragrant. I wanted to have 2nd helpings, but *shy*

It's always good to have pretty boys greeting you upon clearing immigration. Adds colour to your mood, haha! It used to be F4, but they have changed it to 飞轮海. Anything also can, as long as handsome, haha!

 

Getting our Taiwan Youth Travel Card. This pass will provide you with special discounts at certain tourist attractions in Taiwan, as long as you flash the card. No fees required & it's valid for travellers aged between 15-30 yrs old.

Taking Freego Bus to our hotel @ Ximending. The bus travels b/w Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport & Taipei city, stopping at several stops in the city that are near the hotels. Quite a convenient way to get to the city instead of the train.

Stayed at Royal Castle Hotel once again for this trip. Standards seemed to have dropped from our previous trip in 2007 :( Even though the hotel implemented a non-smoking policy across all floors, cigarette smell still lingered in the rooms & corridors. After freshening up, it was time to hit the streets of Ximending!

Royal Castle Hotel

No. 115 Cheng Du Road, Taipei City
Tel: 886 22383 1123

The busy streets of Ximending, filled with people from all walks of life :)

The 1st stop ~ Ah Zhong Min Xian! I've been craving for this ever we touched down at the airport. The place was still as crowded, with helpers dishing out bowl after bowl for the customers. Customers used to crowd around the area, standing with the distinct green bowl in their hands. Stools are now provided for the customers to sit, to enjoy the food in comfort.

Guess  we still prefer the traditional way of eating - standing with the bowl in our hands :) 

 Leaving our footprints in front of the store.

阿宗麵線

No. 8-1 Emei Street, Wanhua District, Taipei City
Opening Hours: 11:00 to 22:30 (Mon - Thu), 11:00 to 23:00 (Fri - Sun)
Tel: 02-2388 8808

 

Spotted 葱抓饼 just opposite Ah Zhong Mian Xian. We brought one to share and it was yummy! Greedy Leecher taking a huge bite cuz he was still hungry.

 

Spotted 康康 & 庹宗康 filming one of their variety shows.

 

We parted ways @ the metro station, for I had a dinner date with my colleagues who happened to be on a business trip in Taiwan while the rest proceeded to Shilin Night Market for a night of feasting.

Enjoying the weekend!

Decided to take things easy on a weekend :) back to mummy's place to be her lil princess, with Leecher at my beck & call *evil laughter*

Reno Diary - Carpentry

Carpentry works usually take up the bulk of renovation costs, as they consist of cabinets and measured by per foot run. So, the more carpentry you have, the more you have to pay. We had a hard time choosing for materials due to the theme, but still, glad that everything worked out :) thanks for the wonderful inputs by the designers - and I had a dabble in conceptualizing and designing all the items, so pretty proud of my  handiwork :)

Installation of cupboards

Measurements are provided to the carpenters beforehand, so they could start work first. They transported the finished products (part by part) to the house to assemble.

 

We had 2 teams of carpenters working on our house. They were pretty efficient and took only 1 day to assemble all the pieces together. We left after awhile, for them to continue their work.

 

We came back at night to check out the progress. 

Shoes cabinet! One of my fave part of the house, for it immediately reflects the theme :)

   

Kitchen cabinets. Holes were cut for placing kitchen hob and sink.

 

Small island that was constructed. 

 

The bomb shelter that is cleverly concealed behind the door. 

TV console & WIW (uncompleted)   

Fixture of solid surface & kitchen accessories

Kitchen & bathroom accessories arrived on the same day.

 

Kitchen sink & hob being fixed before they installed solid surface. We chose a solid surface that's light in colour, to match the kitchen tiles.

Leecher filling in his details for the warranty for our hob & hood. The small island sure came in useful!

Cornices on cabinets

We added cornices on top of the cabinets, to keep to our theme :) They really made a difference to the whole look! 

Completed Look

 The doors are ready to be installed onto the cupboards & we selected different knobs for different cabinets.

  Once the carpentry is completed, the whole renovation journey is almost 80% completed :) And start packing the bags for moving over!

Mani & Pedi

Blogging from my hotel room @ JW Marriott KL. They seemed to have revamped the place from my last stay, but what is disappointing is there's no free WIFI connection & you still have to pay for internet connection. Guess I won't be staying at this hotel in the near future, unless they improvise on their facilities. A quick post before I hit the bed ~ It has been a long time since I did my nails. So when a wedding invitation came along, I reckoned that this was the perfect chance of pampering the nails :)

All set for a fresh coat of colours.

The essentials for pedi! They did a great job in removing dead skin cells and my feet felt baby smooth after that.

Chosen glittery purple this time round, to match the purple toga dress that I've chosen to wear for the wedding.

Quick, dry dry dry!

This macho angmoh walked in for a mani&pedi session! How cool is that? I have to admit that I did steal a few glances at him, lol!

All set and ready to go! Love the bling :)

Off to meet up with Leecher, who happened to be out with his friends, to have dinner together. Proudly showed him my nails and ...... he groaned! For that would meant a week of not-doing-laundry, lol :)